Auto racing’s season offered excitement, close championship chases and, unfortunately, death during 2011.
NASCAR, Formula One, Indy Car, American Le Mans Series, the World Endurance Championship, Australian V8s and so many more… this past season has been one to remember. Let’s take a look back at what happened–good and bad–during a sometimes tough but always exciting year in this high-speed world.
One man, a 24-year old German named Sebastian Vettel ruled Formula One’s season. With an incredible 15 pole positions and 11 wins in one season, the championship was decided with several races left in the season. It was due to Vettel’s dominance this season that he was able to win the championship for the second year in a row. Vettel, along with this teammate at Red Bull Racing, Mark Webber, helped secure the manufacturers’ championship for the team as well. This has been called Red Bull’s year, and it certainly was.
In NASCAR, the series championship was not decided as easily. When it came down to the final race of the season, two of its biggest-name drivers were neck and neck. Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart began the final race only a few points apart. Toward the final few laps of the race, with rain looming in the forecast, Stewart was ahead of Edwards by only a couple of seconds. It was a nail biter all the way to the checkered flag. When Stewart crossed the line in first place and Edwards in second, the championship ended in a tie. According to the rules of NASCAR, if the end result is a tie, then the winner is decided by whoever has the most wins. In this case, it was Stewart who has achieved the most wins over the past season. It was an exciting finish for the series yet again.
While there was much to celebrate in the past season of racing, one cannot overlook the tragedy that has struck our community. Like many seasons past, the racing community was struck by the deaths of bright stars. We will remember them for a long time for what they did and how they performed. It is not something that people enjoy thinking about, but it is a dark side to the sport. Deaths included Dan Wheldon, Marco Simoncelli, Gustavo Sondermann, Guido Filaschi and many more that may not have made headlines. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.
This was one of the most turbulent seasons in motorsports in a while. Wild races, scary crashes, tragedy and, of course, really close, good racing. Many series are looking to next year to change. NASCAR moves to fuel injection (finally), Indy Car is debuting a new car, as well as the Aussie V8s. So many changes for next season, I am excited to see what comes next, and I hope you are too.
Josh Banker is a motorsports enthusiast and spends all the free time he can working on open-wheel race tracks.